1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of making photographs, and more particularly to a method of making photographs at a variety of aspect ratios. The present invention further relates to a photographic system for use in practicing the method, the photographic system including a photographic film cartridge, a camera and a photographic printer.
2. Related Art
Recently, there have appeared on the market 135-type full-size frame format compact cameras, in which the picture frames can be printed in a panoramic size. Fuji "Cardia Travel Mini".TM. is one of such compact cameras, which has an exposure opening for defining the exposure area of photographic film that corresponds to a full-size frame of 135-type film, that is, 24 mm .times.36 mm in size (aspect ratio 1.5).
The exposure opening is used for standard photography. When the photographer wishes to take pictures of panoramic size, a pair of mask plates are inserted to limit the upper and lower margins of the exposure opening. As a result, a horizontally elongated exposure area of 13 mm.times.36 mm in size (aspect ratio=about 2.8) is provided. Using such an original frame taken through the elongated exposure opening, an elongated panoramic print of 89 mm.times.254 mm in size (aspect ratio of about 2.9) can be made.
With the increase in popularity of the above-described photographic system, there has been an increasing demand for a variety of print sizes. Especially because the photograph can be given a wide expanse and depth of the scene by enlarging the aspect ratio, the possibility of varying the aspect ratio generates new interest in such photography.
However, in the above-described conventional photographic system, the panoramic print of 89 mm.times.254 mm is made from an original frame of 13 mm.times.36 mm by using a high magnification factor of about 7, which is considerably greater than the magnification factor for the standard size print of 89 mm.times.127 mm, which latter has a magnification factor of about 3.6. As a result, the panoramic prints tend to be inferior to the standard prints as to picture quality.
Moreover, in the above-described photographic system, it is possible to provide only two aspect ratios, that is, an aspect ratio 1.4 for standard prints and an aspect ratio 2.9 for panoramic prints. Therefore, there is a problem that neither the standard aspect ratio nor the panoramic aspect ratio is suitable for some scenes. Of course, it is in principle possible to make a photographic print of a reasonably satisfactory aspect ratio if the customer orders such a special aspect ratio. However, according to this method, it is difficult to offer the general public photographic prints with a variety of aspect ratios. Furthermore, this method is expensive.